


The Handsome Start

by 20Aquaria15



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Character Death, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Jack has a bad childhood, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, bad relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 11:31:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14401251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/20Aquaria15/pseuds/20Aquaria15
Summary: So you want to read a story, huh? How about a story of the past, the past of an evil king who ruled over the company of Hyperion with an iron fist. But this story isn't about that maniac that was born from the Vaults and corrupting companies. No, this is a story about a young boy, a child who grew up on a planet Tantalus. This is a story taking a look at troubled parents, evil grandmothers, and broken hearts. If you dare to read ahead, perhaps you will learn more about a man that everyone thought they already knew well. So come! Learn and experience a truly handsome beginning.





	The Handsome Start

A pleasant breeze fluttered around the peaceful country side. Tall blades of grass shuffled in place, grazing the tips of the large velvety petals of the yellow flowers that sat neatly in a wide garden. The gentle wind blew the flowers back and forth, completely captivating the fauna until a small nimble hand reached down and plucked the stem from the ground.

A young boy, no more than five, lifted the flower to his face, giving it a quick sniff before a wide vibrant smile spread across his face. A giggle erupted from the child before he turned and skipped around to pluck another flower.

“Jack!”

The call of a mature male voice echoed from a short distance and the little boy gasped excitedly before toddling over to the tall man. The man seemed to be in his late twenties, short messy brown hair, clearly unkept fell in his long angular face. Though his eyes were sharp, steely blue, they were still gentle and caring as they stared down at his approaching son, who still tightly held onto the flowers in his chubby hands. Kneeling down to be closer to eye level with the child, the man reached out his arms just wide enough for the boy to come crashing into his chest.

“Ooof!” He exclaimed dramatically, not really fazed by the tiny mass that tackled him. “Jackie, you really need to watch that strength of yours. Almost knocked all the air out of your old man.”

“Nuh-uh! Daddy’s too strong! You’re lying!” The child defended, wicked grin never leaving his face.

The father matched the grin, his holding a more mischievous tint. “Yeah, you’re right!” he cried, scooping up the boy and carefully tossing him in the air only to catch him seconds later. The child screamed out in pure joy, his laughter bouncing off the trees and house nearby.

“Daddy stop!” Jack laughed, twisting in his father’s grip. The man didn’t release him however, instead going in for a tickle attack, running his fingers across his son’s sides. This caused even more laughter to erupt, and the father couldn’t help the merry smile that formed at the sound of his boy’s laughter. It was a sound the man has and always will cherish for as long as he shall live. Once he felt the child endured enough of the tickling, he stopped only to wrap his strong arms around the boy and hug him tightly kissing the top of his head as well.

Jack’s giggling lessened slightly as he let his father hug and kiss him. Once the adult stopped, Jack instantly wrapped his tiny arms around the man’s neck.

His father grinned at the gesture, rubbing a hand on the child’s back. “Love you, Jackie.”

“I love you too, Daddy.” The boy leaned his head on his dad’s chest, his heterochromia eyes shifting down to the slightly damaged flowers in his grip still. He awkwardly shoved the plants in his father’s face and smiled sweetly. “I picked these for you, Daddy.”

With a dramatic gasp, the father slid one out of his son’s grip. “You did!? Why I love it, Jack. And yellow, you know that’s my favorite color.” He kissed Jack’s cheek, smiling at the return of the child’s soft laugh. “You are such a good boy.”

Jack beamed with pride before looking down at the remaining flower. His smile fell slightly as he observed it. “Do you think Mommy would like this one?”

The adult also felt his smile fall slightly as he focused on the other flower to his son. He forced a bright grin, hugging his boy tightly once more. “I’m sure she will love it!”

Jack smiled at that, looking down at the lone flower. Squirming slightly, he slipped from his father’s grip and plopped down on the ground. “When Mommy gets back, I’m gonna give this to her!”

The adult smiled gently, leaning down and petting his son’s head. “That’s a good idea, Jack.”

Suddenly a car pulled up to the rundown house and a small, thin woman slide out, slamming the door shut. Her blonde hair was pinned back, and her green eyes were narrowed down in angry slits. She turned her head over to the father and son, mouth scrunched into a thin line. “Richard!”

The man sighed very tiredly. “Jennifer…”

The woman marched over to them and Jack felt his smile lower just slightly, twisting into a shyer version. He stood and waddled over to her, lifting up the flower as high as possible. “Mommy! I-“

“John! What happened to your clothes!” The woman knelt down, pulling at his shirt which was covered in dirt. “Your shirt is filthy!” She turned her glare to her husband. “Richard, did you really let John play in the dirt! These were new clothes!” She looked over her son again before sighing exasperated. “Look at his nice pants! He was going to wear that to my mother’s house next week!”

Richard sighed, stretching his arms, a noticeable pop ringing out. “It’s fine, Jenny. We’ll just get _Jack’s_ clothes cleaned tonight. No big deal.” He cracked his neck, relieving himself from some of the stress he suddenly gained. “Then he’ll look like a little gentleman for the she-devil that is your mother…”

Jennifer glared heatedly at her husband, placing her hands at her hips. “For the last time, Richard, his name is John! And second of all, this will surely stain! Why would you let your son play in the dirt with his nice clothes on!”

Rich rolled his eyes. “Jack was bored. He’s a kid. Kids like to play outside. That is what I was thinking.”

“Mommy!” Jack interrupted, both parents looking down at him intensely. He flinched at the glare of his mother, before forcing out a bout of confidence and held up the flower again. “I picked you this flower.”

Jennifer stared at the flower for a moment before her gaze moved over to the garden she would take care of. A horrified gasp fell from her lips and Jack instantly knew he must have messed up. She slid between her son and husband to observe her flower garden. “And you let him play in my flowerbed!?” She twirled back to look at Jack. “Johnathan! How many times have I told you to not play there! I work hard on those flowers and I will not have you-“

“Jennifer!”

The woman turned to the man in a huff. “What!?”

He took quick and long strides over to his wife, taking advantage to his tall height, towering over her and crossing his arms. “Our son took the time to pick us both a pretty flower because he loves us and wants to make us happy,” He whispered. “So why don’t you accept the flower instead of screaming his head off…”

Jennifer didn’t back down, matching the glare with as much intensity as him. “Richard, our son also broke a rule that I have very clearly told him countless times. I am not going to reward him for his actions when he disobeys me. That is not how the world works, Richard!”

Richard stared at her, his blue eyes challenging her green ones in a silent fight. “…Fine…” he finally said after a moment, turning around to walk over to Jack. He knelt down and gestured for his son to come to him. Jack hesitated before walking over to his father, hugging the man’s neck again. “Jack, your mommy appreciates the gesture, but from now on let’s leave her flower garden alone, okay buddy?”

Jack nodded slowly, a tear started to threaten to leave his eyes. Richard quickly took notice and kissed the boy’s cheek, hugging him tightly. Jack felt his smile return and a small laugh escaped once more.

“There’s my boy’s smile.” He gave one more kiss before ruffling his hair. “Okay, buddy, go on inside and change clothes. Mommy and I have to clean these up.”

“Okay, Daddy,” Jack nodded and ran off back inside.

Jennifer watched this all and shook her head, clearly annoyed. “You are too soft on him!”

“He’s five years old, Jenny. We can’t yell at him every time he makes a mistake.”

“My mother did that to me growing up and I turned out just fine!”

“Your mother is a psychopath! Don’t you remember all the times you would run off to my home in tears cause of what your mother did to you!?”

“That has nothing to do with John!”

“His name is freaking Jack!”

“No!” Jennifer started to march to the house. “His name is Johnathan! That is what it says on his birth certificate and no matter how many times you call him that stupid name he is John! Now for the goddamn last time, will you stop calling him that and by his proper name already!”

Richard, who was following after her, rush past her to the door and leaned against it, blocking her from entering. “No,” he grinned, crossing his arms and leaning his head closer to hers.

“Get out of my way, Richard!”

“We are not fighting inside the house. Jack is inside, and he doesn’t need to hear all this…”

“Richard!”

“I’ll let you in if you agree not to yell.”

“…”

The man raised a brow, not showing the slightest sign of stepping down. “Well?”

Jennifer let out a breath through her nose, shoving her husband away. “We’ll talk about this later, Richard…” she whispered as loud as a whisper could be.

He stepped back, his wife not actually having the strength to push him and let her walk inside. Once she entered, he followed suit, stepping into his rundown home. He let out a breath, looking around at their cracked-up walls that looked like they would collapse at the slightest touch. He gently ran his hands over the nearest wall, feeling the split in the wall. He shook his head, walking over to their couch. The sofa was dirty and ripped up, the worn-out springs threatening to poke out. He had found the couch abandoned on the side of a road. He didn’t take it because he saw it as easy and free furniture, but simply because he couldn’t afford any for his family. The day he pushed the couch inside his house, he knew he was at rock bottom, unable to provide his wife and child with even simple furniture.

He shook his head, plopping down on the cushion, wincing at the jab of the spring. He could hear Jennifer angrily cleaning up in the kitchen, what she would normally do when she wanted to avoid him and Jack.

Speaking of his son, the young child skipped over to him, now in a red shirt with a pony on the front. Not a shirt he expected his son to want, but who was he to judge. So of course, he bought it for him as soon as he could afford it for him. Jack was the most precious thing to him after all.

“Daddy! Here are my clothes!”

“Good job, Jackie.” He grabbed them and started heading to the laundry room. He grabbed the hamper on the way and shoved all the clothes inside quickly getting things set up. “Jack, want to help Daddy?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, go grab the detergent for me.”

The child nodded determinedly and opened up a cabinet and tried to lift it up. He struggled slightly but managed to drag the large bottle to him. “Here you go, Daddy!”

“Thank you!” He leaned down and grabbed it from his son, pouring a generous amount inside. “Okay, now we wait. What do you want to do until the clothes are washed?”

“Um…I want to play hide and seek!”

Richard smiled and nodded. “You got it bud. I’ll count, and you hide, okay?”

“Yeah!” Jack screamed, earning a flinch from his dad, and bolted out of the room.

The adult chuckled and covered his eyes with his hands to fully convince his son he wasn’t peaking. “Okay Jack! One…Two…Three…”

As he counted in a very slow and exaggerated way, he could hear Jack scampering around and giggling. Finally, he heard a door open and slam shut. Judging from the distance of the sound, it sounded like Jack was hiding in his room.

Richard smirked and stepped away from the laundry room. “Okay, Jackie! Ready or not, here I come!” Slowly he approached his son’s room, purposely opening up other rooms as loud as possible to make it seem to Jack he was actually looking around. All the while he would speak up random lines like, “Hmm, where could Jack be?” or “Wow, Jack you are just too good at hiding!”

Once he approached the bedroom, he slowly opened it, hearing a startled gasp as he did so. Holding back a laugh, Richard entered, seeing his son’s little feet under his bed. Holding back another chuckle, he started searching everywhere, but the bed.

“Hmmm…maybe Jack is in here? In the…closet?” he asked opening it, but of course he knew Jack wasn’t inside. He heard a soft laugh from under the bed and Richard slyly looking toward the noise. Jack gasped and covered his mouth with his tiny fists. The father smirked, creeping up to the boy as slow as possible. Once he was at the bed he put his hands to his hips and sighed. “Boy, I just can’t seem to find Jack. He is just too good at this game.” He paused, hearing his son giggle again. “But…I wonder…”

Finally, Richard leaned down and grabbed at his son’s feet, earning a high pitch joyful scream to fill the room. Jack laughed and twisted in his father’s grip as he was dragged out, Richard peppering him in kisses and tickling his sides.

“Wha-would you look at this! I found you!”

Jack couldn’t speak, too wrapped up in his father’s affection to get a word out. Once the tickling stopped, the boy pounced at his father, mimicking the tickling motions on the man. Didn’t result in any sensation for him since Jack didn’t seem to understand how to properly tickle, but Richard laughed loudly anyways.

The father and son stayed like this for a moment, enjoying their moment, but just as they seemed to be reaching the end of their laughing fit, a voice came shouting down the hallway.

“Richard! Jack! Can you both shut up! I need to focus out here!”

Jack flinched at his mother’s shouts, clinging to his dad. The two were silent for a moment, staring at the bedroom door before the boy hesitantly spoke. “Is Mommy mad at me?”

“No, no, no…” Richard was quick to comfort him, hugging him tightly. “If anything, she is mad at me.” The sent of dinner hit his nose and he sighed, standing up. “Smells like dinner is almost finished. Why don’t you go wash up your hands, okay?”

“Okay Daddy…”

The adult grinned sadly at his boy, did his best to hide his displeasure, standing up and stretching out his body. He glanced back down at his son again, ruffling the boy’s head. “Also wash up that face of yours. Got dirt all over it.”

“Okay…”

He watched his son shuffle away, sighing sadly at the sullen look on the child. “Goddamn it…” he muttered, shaking his head. He walked out, quickly finding his wife doing the final touches of their meal. “Jenny, I know you are in a bad mood, but don’t ruin Jack and mine’s fun just because of that…”

“I have a headache, Richard…”

“Oh, you are right! How could I be so selfish!” he called out sarcastically.

Jennifer didn’t seem to appreciate that, slamming a dish rag on the counter and marching up to him. “I worked all day, dealing with a whole bunch of idiot workers who don’t know a simple spreadsheet from a hole in the ground! Then I come home, finding out my son had ruined my garden-“

“He plucked two flowers!”

“ _And_ ruined his nice _new_ clothes! Not to mention I have had my mother breathing down my neck this entire week asking about our visit to her house next week!”

“I still say we shouldn’t go…”

“No!” Jennifer snapped. “Don’t! Just don’t! I don’t need that argument to start back up again!”

“Your mother is a psycho! You grew up hating her!”

As hard as she could, she shoved her husband away, Richard tumbling back and hitting his head against the wall. “SHUT UP!”

Richard gasped, rubbing the back of his head in an attempt to dull the pain. “Damn, Jennifer…”

The woman held back tears, turning around to preparing plates for dinner. “I told you, we are not having this conversation again. I’m tired of this, Richard…”

The father fixed his wife with such an intense glare, ignoring the throbbing of his head, and instead storming to the door. “You know what, me too…” He huffed, leaving his wife alone in the kitchen. His anger was so great, he didn’t even notice Jack shaking by the hallway. At least not right away.

Only when Jack let out a timid, “Daddy…?” did he notice the scared child standing there.

“Oh…Jack, sweetie…” He knelt down, hugging the boy close to him. “Oh honey, I am so sorry Mommy and Daddy were fighting again.”

Jack didn’t say anything. Instead he just sniffled in his father’s arms, silently crying on the man’s chest. His father just stayed there, shushing the boy and petting his head in hopes of comforting him. The two stayed like that for a long time before Richard decided it was time for his boy to eat. Scooping the child in his arms, he carried him to the dinning table. Jennifer was no where in sight, probably either skipping dinner or eating in another room. Richard sighed at this, unfortunately already used to this kind of behavior from his wife. He and Jack ate in silence, the father unable to think of a way to cheer up his son.

After dinner, Richard helped the boy get ready for bed, cleaning him up, putting on fresh pajamas and tucking him. Just as he was about to leave the bedroom, Jack finally spoke up.

“Daddy?”

Richard instantly was back by the bed. “Yeah, Jack?”

“Can you read me the story again?”

Smiling, the father instantly settling down next to him. “Of course, buddy.” He agreed, patting Jack’s head before beginning. “Once upon a time there was a large kingdom that was cursed with dangerous monsters and bandits. The monsters and bandits had taken over the land, forcing the innocent people of the land to hide in their homes in fear.”

“Bandits are mean…” Jack whispered, his eyes starting to droop.

“That’s right.” Richard nodded, smiling softly. “Anyways, one day there was a young man-“

“A hero.” Jack interrupted, smiling happily despite his tiredness.

Chuckling, the father nodded. “You got it, buddy. A hero. Now the hero saw his land and he was so upset by all the thievery from bandits and attacks by monsters. So, he went out and challenge all the bandits and monsters. Everyday he fought against them, taking down enemy after enemy. Nothing could stop him. He took each challenge that came his way and he with strength, courage, and determination, he won! Defeating the monsters and bandits and bringing peace to the land. The people of the land celebrated him, and he became the hero of the land, forever loved and cherished by all.”

Jack smiled dreamily, his eyes finally sliding shut. “I love that story…”

“I know you do.” He patted his head, once more before starting to leave. “Goodnight Jack. Love you.”

“Love you to…”

Richard smiled happily, heading to the door, making sure to keep it cracked for the boy. He was just about to turn away when he heard his son whisper one last thing. He had to strain his ears, but he managed to just barely make out the final sentence before his child drifted off to sleep.

“I want to be a hero…”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I am a college student who has inconstant schedules. Because of this, I am not able to update on a weekly basis, but I will try my best to update as quickly as I am able. So I will apologize ahead of time for any late updates.


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